The Monster Inside
by gypsybelleoftheopera
Summary: When Rumple manages to escape from Zelena again, the first thing he does is go to Belle. But their reunion doesn't turn out the way either of them hope. One-shot. Please r & r.


Rumple began to slowly open his eyes after another night of uncomfortable sleep. Once his vision kicked in he saw that the cage was wide open. "What the…" he said to himself as he examined it. After about a few seconds, he realized that it didn't matter how or why it was open; he was able to finally try to escape again.

His first instinct was to go to the only person he loved, Belle. He ran through the forest into town where he made his way to his shop. When he arrived he ran inside, panting for breath. "I'm sorry, the shop's closed," he heard coming from the next room over as she walked in. He looked up and she gasped, their eyes meeting. "Rumple?" she asked, tears beginning to well in her eyes.

"Belle." He took a step towards her as she stepped back, looking at him with fear and insecurity.

"Why are you here? What does Zelena want now?"

"This has nothing to do with Zelena."

"But I thought that as long as she has the dagger…"

"She does, but she's not controlling me right now. I managed to escape again, and the first thing I knew I had to do was see you. We haven't been alone together since I returned from Neverland, and ever since then you were all I could think about." As he said all of this, he continued to approach her and she continued to back away. He had eventually backed her up against a wall, and as he reached out for her, she flinched, avoiding and cowering at his touch. "Oh Belle, it kills me to see you this way towards me. You do know that everything I've done since our return wasn't actually me, right? You know that I would never hurt you."

At first Belle's body was tense as she looked at him warily, but as he spoke she loosened up, releasing the tension. "I know," she replied reluctantly.

Rumple backed up and reached his hand out for her. She looked down at it before looking up to see the desperate, pleading look on his face. "Please Belle." His voice was beginning to choke up with tears. "Please come back to me. I promise I won't hurt you."

Belle could see the look of sincerity and knew it to be completely genuine. Giving in to his plea and seeing just how much pain he was in, she couldn't help but begin to weep as well. "Oh Rumple," she said taking his hand. As she walked closer, they wrapped their arms around each other and leaned in for a passionate kiss. "I know that you would never hurt me." She laid her head against his shoulders.

Rumple, trembling, pulled her in even closer, holding on to her as if he never wanted to let go. At this point he had given up on holding back his tears. "I love you Belle!" he cried, pressing her against him as he wrapped his arms around her head. "Never forget that no matter what happens, I will always love you!" He loosened his grip, and she backed away so they could look into each other's eyes. With his hands shaking like crazy, he held her face with them, before leaning in and passionately kissing her forehead.

Suddenly, as if against his will, he found himself lowering his hands from her face towards her neck. "No," he whispered, trying to procrastinate on doing the inevitable.

"What is it?" Belle asked worriedly.

Before he could answer, he found himself gripping Belle's neck. "I'm so sorry Belle," he said desperately. He struggled trying to release his grip, but as long as Zelena controlled his actions he was powerless. He pushed her back against the wall, tightening his grip as he dug his fingers deeper into her neck. He then lunged forward, pressing his lips against hers to prove that despite what Zelena was making him do, he didn't want to hurt her and that he still loved her. "I'm so sorry," he repeated through silent tears.

Using all of her energy, Belle kicked Rumple in the stomach, releasing his hold over her. She ran away to the other side of the room as he fell to the ground. "I thought you said that you were here on your own."

"It's Zelena. She wanted me to come here to hurt you."

"But what about all the things you said?"

"That was all me. Everything up until that was all me. Belle, please," he pleaded, reaching out to her while still on all fours like an animal. But Belle could only flinch and cower every time he would make even the smallest gesture towards her. He began to weep again, like the coward he was before. "You know I'm not really a monster anymore, right?"

"You were right Rumple. Until all of this gets sorted out, it would be better for both of us if we didn't see each other." Still on the floor shaking like a leaf, Rumple curled himself up, ashamed and angry towards himself for being unable to fight back against Zelena's actions. He was embarrassed for allowing Belle to see him this way, not because he was vulnerable, but because he felt like a pathetic imp. "Rumple…" Belle said worriedly, "Look at your hands."

Rumple looked down to see that his hands were physically changing. Staggeringly he stood up and looked at Belle, who gasped at his appearance. He made his way to the closest mirror and looked at himself with a mix of shock and disgust. He was physically turning back into the Dark One. But not only that, he was turning into a more monstrous, distorted version of himself. He was so repulsed by his appearance that after seconds of looking in the mirror he had to look away. Belle slowly and cautiously approached him. "Rumple…?" She barely touched him on the shoulder when he suddenly used his arm to knock her down.

As he saw her lying on the ground cowering in fear of him, he looked down at his arms, hating himself even more that that last action wasn't caused by Zelena, but was his fault. He took a step closer and bent down, reaching his hand out again. Only this time Belle could hardly look at him in the eye, not from his appearance but rather out of fear of his actions. He then reached for her arm, pulling her in closer to him, and she still couldn't bring herself to look at him. "Run," he whispered into her ear. Without a moment's hesitation, Belle got up and ran out of the shop. He looked back down at his hands, before going back to look in the mirror. Hating himself more than ever, he knocked the mirror down, smashing it to pieces. He then fell back onto his knees, crying over the fact that no matter what he was always going to be a monster.

Everything else that had happened after that was a blur. The next thing he knew he was back in his cage. As soon as his consciousness kicked in, he immediately began to feel his face and look at his hands. Apparently he was back to normal; either that or the whole thing was just a dream. But regardless if it were a dream or not, he knew that regardless of how much he tried to change for himself and those he loved, and regardless of Zelena's power over him, he knew that no matter how normal he appeared on the outside, inside he would always be the hideous monster.


End file.
